Steam superheater



June 15 1926.

J. G. ROBINSON E1 AL STEAM SUPERHEATER Filed Dec. 27, 1921 3Sheets-Sheet l 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 .1.v G. ROBINSON r AL STEAM SUPERHEATERFiled Dec. 27, 1921 June 15 1926.

June 15 1926.

J. G. ROBINSON r AL STEAM SUPERHEATER Filed Dec. 27, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet5 Illll Patented June 15, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN GEORGE ROBINSON AND ROBERT ABSALOM THOM, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND,

ASSIGNORS TO THE SUPERHEATER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., I A COR-PORATION OF DELAWARE.

STEAM SUPERI-IEATER.

Application filed December 27, 1921, Serial No.

This invention relates to steam superheaters of the multiple smoke orfire tube type such, for instance, as those usually fitted to locomotiveboilers and in which a suitable number of U-loop superheater pipes orelements extend into a number of boiler smoke tubes and have theirsaturated steam inlet ends and superheated steam outlet ends bentupwardly or laterally and secured to a header situated in the smoke boxabove or ments extend, such header, which may be in the form of a.single casting, comprising a saturated steam space or chamber, throughwhich saturated steam from the boiler passes into the elements throughthe inlet ends thereof, and a superheated steam space or chamber intowhich superheated steam passes from the outlet ends of the elements andfrom which latter chamber superheated steam is delivered to the enginecylinder.

In one well known superheater of the ty e above mentioned, the saturatedsteam lniet and superheated steam outlet ends of the superheaterelements are secured to the header by being expanded directly in holesin the header whereby the most ettective steam-tight jointing of theelements to the header is obtained; In this known superheaterconstruction a number of saturated steam chambers or compartments and anumber of superheated steam chambers or compartments are arranged sideby side and transversely of the header, saturated and superheated steamcompartments alternating in the header, and these compartments areclosed at the frontof the header by removable cover plates which, whenremoved, give access to the interior. of the said steam chambers orcompartments for the purpose of expanding the ends of: the superheaterelements into the bottom or wall of the header and for driving out theseends or disconnecting them from the header when it is required to removean element or elements from the boiler smoke tubes, all of the saturatedsteam chambers beingin communication with a channel or space in the524,918, and in Great Britain February 7, 1921.

ceives superheated steam from the said chambers and from which thesuperheated steam is conveyed by the usual steam pipes to the enginevalve chests.

The present invention has for its principal objects to provide. asuperheater in ments are joined to the header by being expanded directlyin holes in the header wall, the form or construction of the header isnot only simple but is further such as to give greater facility forexpanding the ends oi the superheater elements into and for driving outor extracting these ends from the header, the construction andarrangements being further such that these expanding and extractingoperations can be readily per formed by means of ordinary tools such asthose usually employed for expanding in and extracting boiler tubes.Further the form or construction of the header is such to one side ofthe group of smoke tubes in Y which, while the endsof the-superheaterelewhich the U-pipes of the superheater elethat the cross area of thesteam spaces or 1 lustrated by the accompanying drawings in which,-

Figs. 1 and 1 together constitute av front view of the upper portion ofthe smoke box end of a locomotive boilerv with the front or door removedand show a superheater according to this invention, the portion of theheader in Fig. 1 being in sectional elevation, the section being takenon the line 11 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the portion of the header shown in Fig. 1. r

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the portion of the header shown in Fig. 1,the section being taken on line 22, Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a side View partially in section, of part of a. locomotiveboiler showing the superheater illustrated in Figs. 1 and 1 Fig. t is adetail view drawn to a larger scale showing portions of two adjacentdepending steam chambers or pockets of the header and also showing oneof the superheater elements with its end portions moved to the positionin which they lie one behind the other to enable them to be drawnforwardly through the space or opening be tween the steam pockets.

Fig. 5 isa transverse section of the header taken on the line 55 Fig. 1.

In the following description of a super heater according to this.invention as. illustrated in the accompanying drawings, like referencenumbers indicate corresponding parts in. the several figures of thedrawings.

Referring to the drawings 1 indicates a portion of the barrel of alocomotive boiler, 2 the smokebox wall or shell, 3 the boiler tube plateatthe smoke box end of the boiler and a the usual enlarged smoketubes ofthe boiler into which the U-p-ipes of the superheater elements extend asusual.

5 is the superheater header which as shown is a casting (it may be aniron or a steel casting; as desired) in. which are formed twolongitudinal steam chambers or channels 6 and 7 arranged one behind theother and extending trom end to end of the header, the chamber 6 being asaturated steam chamber which. receives saturated steam from therearwardly extending tubular part 8 formed integrally with the headerand provided with a flange 9 whereby the said tubular part 8' is securedto the boiler tube plate 3 in registration with the aperture 10 thereinin which the outlet end of the usual saturated steam pipe of the boileris titted, the flange 9 being secured to the tube plate 3 in anysuitable manner for instance by means of bolts or studs and nuts asusual. 11 and 12 (See Figs. 1 and 1 are, respectively, the hereinbeforementioned downwardly projecting" or depending saturated and superheatedsteam chambers or pockets the saturated steam chambers 11 being incommunication at their upper ends with the longitudinal saturated steamchamber or channel 6 as clearly shown in Fig. 3, and the superheatedsteam chambers or pockets 12 being in communication at their upper endswith the longitudinal superheated steam chamber or channel 7 as clearlyshown in Figs. 1 and 5, the comrmmication between thedepending-saturated steam chambers or pockets 11 and the saturated steamchamber 6 being through the rearwardly sloping passages 11 formingextensions of the said pockets 11. 13 are the hereinbefore mentionedrelatively narrow openings formed in the header casting between adjacentdepending steam pockets or chambers 11 and 12. As clearly shown in Fig.1", the saturated steam inlet ends 1% of each of the superheaterelements appertaining to the boiler smoke tubes in two adjacent verticalrows of these tubes are expanded in holes 15 in the rear wall of one ofthe depending saturated steam chambers or pockets 11, the superheatedsteam outlet ends 16 of the elements appertaining to one of the saidvertical rows of smoke tubes being similarly expanded in holes 17 in therear wall of the depending superheated steam pocket or chamber 12situated to one side of the pocket 11 while the superheated steam outletends 16 of the elements appertaining to the other vertical row 0t smoketubes are similarly expanded in holes in the rear wall of the dependingsuperheated steam pocket or chamber 12 situated on the other side of thesaid pocket 11., the arrange.- ment being such, as clearly shown in Fig.1*, that each depending saturated steam pocket or chamber 11 has thesaturated steam inlet ends of all the elements appertaining to twoadjacent vertical rows of the boiler smoke tubes secured in its rearwall b bein ex.-

b l paneled in holes therein and each depending superheated steamchamber or pocket 12 has the superheated steam outlet ends of all of theelements appertainil-ig to two adjacent vertical rows oi the boilersmoke tubes secured to its rear wall by being expanded in holes therein,with the exception, in the example shown, of the saturated steam chainhers or pockets 11 at the ends of the header in which, as shown in Figs.1 and 1*, the saturated steam inlet ends. of the superheater elementsappertaining to only one vertical row of the boiler smoke tubes areexpanded. in the respective chambers 11 at opposite ends oi the header.18 are the U-loop superheater elements, the U-pipes of an element asusual extending into one of the boiler smol-ze tubes 4:. As ciearlyshown in Fig. 3 the end portions of the superheater elements 18 whichextend from the boiler smoke tubes ato the rear walls or the dependingsteam chambers 11 and 12 of the header are bentupwardly and forwardlyand are further so bentor set that one of the said portions-in theexample shown the superheated steam outlet portion marked 18 F 3-issituated in advance of the other or saturated steam inlet portion marked18" Fig. 3, the construction and arrangement being such that when theends of an element are disconnected from the rear wall of adjacent steamchambers o'r pockets 11 and 12 the portions it 18" of the element can bepressed or moved towards each other so that the portion 18" ot theelement will lie behind the portion 18 in the same plane and inalignment with the opening 13 between the adjacent steam chambers orpockets 11 and 12 as clearly shown in Fig. 4 whereupon the element canbe drawn forwardly out of rear walls of the chambers 11 and 12 the saidportions 18, 18 of the element will spring apart so that they can bereadily inserted in the holes 15 and 17 in the rear walls of the saidchambers 11 and 12 for the purpose of being expanded in the said holes.I

Fig. 4 shows the position or approximately the position assumed by thelongitudinal pipes of the element, (which form extensions of theportions 18, 18 and extend into the smoke tube 4:) when the saidportions 18, 18" are moved to and held in the position one behind theother as. shown in Fig. 4. The horizontal front end portions of thelower stretches of the pipes 18 are sprung in opposite directions sothat they lie one above the other, as indicated by the numerals 18 and18 in Fig. a, andthe inclined end portions 18 and 18 of the pipes are inthe same vertical plane.

19 indicates the openings in the front of each of the depending steampockets or chambers 11 and 12 19 being the flange surrounding the saidopening and 20, Figs. 1 and 3, are the hereinbefore mentioned coverplates or hand hole doors which are fitted to each of the dependingchambers 11 and 12 respectively for closing the front of same in a steamtight manner; as shown in Fig. 3 a projecting portion of the inner sideof the cover 20 enters the opening 19 in the chamber 11 and the face ofthe cover surrounding the said projecting portion bears on the outerface of the flange 19 the said faces being machined so as to enable aneffective steam tight joint to be made. Each of the hand hole doors orcover plates 20, in the example shown, is secured to the respectivesteam chambers or pockets 11 and 12 by means of a T-bolt 21 the T-headof the bolt, when in'position securing the door or cover 20 to theheader, extending transversely of the opening 19 in the respectivedepending steam chamber and engaging behind the vertical portion of theflange 19 surrounding the said opening 22 being a nut which when screwedup on the outer end of the bolt 21 which projects from the outer side ofthe cover 20, securely clamps the cover in position on the header.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 1? the short depending steam chambers 11and 12 terminate at their lower ends at a position above and thus clearof the enlarged smoke tubes 1 in the uppermost horizontal row of suchtubes; consequently the smoke :tubes in the uppermost horizontal row, aswell as" those in the lower horizontal rows, can be removed from theboiler by being drawn forwardly through the smoke box, without having toremove the header from its fixed position in the smoke box. It is alsoclearly shown, by Figs. 1 and 3, that on removal of the cover platesordoors 20 from the front of the depending steam chambers or pockets 11,12 the ends of the superheater elements in the holes in the rear wallsof these chambers are immediatelyaccessible for the purpose of eitherexpanding these ends in or disconnecting them from the said steamchambers, and that the operations for expanding the ends of the elementsin the rear Walls of the chambers 11 and 12 and the operations fordisconnecting these ends from the said Walls can be convenientlyperformed by means of the ordinary tube expanding and extracting toolsusually employed for expanding and extracting the tubes of boilers.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. A steam superheater header for a locomotive boiler, comprising twochambers for saturated steam and for superheated steam respectivelyarranged one in front of the other and each provided with a series ofbranch chambers depending from them and arranged alternately, saidchambers and branch chambers being of a total height for installation inthe boiler smoke box wholly above the level of its fire-tubes so as topermit theremoval of said fire-tubes, the said branch chambers eachhaving holes in their rear sides for the expanded end portions ofsuperheater pipes, said holes being arranged horizontally in pairs, onepair above another, and said branch chambers having spaces between themof such narrow width as only to permit the end portions of thesuperheater pipes to be slid through them when said end portions aresprung into the same vertical plane.

2. A superheater header as set forth in claim 1, in combination withsuperheater tubes each having its two end portions inclined upwardly andforwardly with one end portion arranged partially in advance of itsother end portion.

3. In a superheater header for locomotives, a saturated steam chamber, asuperieated steam chamber located adjacent to and in front of thesaturated steam chamber, branch superheated and saturated steam chambersdepending from the superheated steam chamber and connected to the twosteam chambers alternately, said branch chambers being arranged whollyabove the top row of boiler smoke-flues and permitting the removal ofsaid fines Without disconnecting the superheater from the boiler, thesaid branch chambers each having two series of holes for receivingsnperheagter tubes when arranged side by side and said branch chambershaving spaces between them of less Width than the Width of the branchchambers and adapted for the passage of superheater tubes only when said10 tubes are arranged one above another.

In testimony whereof We have aflixed our signatures.

JOHN GEORGE ROBINSON. ROBERT ABSALOM THOM.

